Setting Suns
by RozPottz
Summary: James and Lily have a night in with their son. Before it happens...
1. Default Chapter

Setting Suns  
  
"You know that you don't have to go, just because you're not our secret keeper any more doesn't mean you have to leave us. We're not going to kick you out, you know."  
  
"I know, James, but I need to do something. And I've already spent a month here. I can't scrounge off you lot forever, however much I want to!" Sirius grinned at his best friend.  
  
"Well, anytime you're around, pop in. And I mean that. So you have to come back now! Besides, if you're away too long, Harry won't be able to remember your name. And then you'll have to retrain him in the art of flying!" James clapped Sirius round the shoulders, and handed him his motorbike helmet. Sirius took it, and revved the engine of his magical Honda. Just at that moment, Lily came hurrying out of her home, with a baby slung over her shoulder, and a bag held out to Sirius.  
  
"I made you some food, and I found your Gringott's key for you. You'd left it in the biscuit tin, along with a pile of loose change. Just be careful, OK? And don't forget to write. Oh!" Lily flung Harry into Sirius' arms and ran back into the house. She emerged a moment later with an owl in a cage, which she put in the pannier on the back of Sirius' bike.  
  
Sirius laughed and quickly pecked Lily on the cheek. He did the same to Harry who gurgled happily, and handed the chirping baby back to his mother. James quickly backed away.  
  
"Oh no! You're not kissing me! Lily will get jealous, and then we'll both be in trouble!"  
  
Sirius laughed, jumped off his bike, and quickly transformed into a black, shaggy dog. James too turned into his animagus form, swiftly becoming a leaping stag. The dog jumped up over the stag's back, and rolled back through his legs in one move, before both animals turned into their human selves. Sirius then picked up is helmet, plunged his head into it, and leapt onto his motorbike, before zooming off into the setting sun.  
  
For a moment, James and Lily gazed into the red orb hanging in the sky, before Lily spoke.  
  
"Well James, we have the house to ourselves again. What are we going to do now?" Lily asked her husband with a twinkle in her eye.  
  
"You will speak to Arabella and get her to babysit Harry, and I will find the drinks!" He walked into the little cottage, guiding Lily in with him. As they stepped inside the hallway, Lily walked into the living room, put down her son and walked to the fireplace. She took some floo powder from a snuffbox on the mantelpiece, and sprinkled it in the flames. She stuck her head into the fire and cried out "37 Nightingale Way!" Her head appeared in a stuffy little room. A cat mewed from the depths of one oftwo armchairs.  
  
"Arabella?" Lily's eyes took in the sight of two overstuffed armchairs, two cats, some small coffee tables, and Dumbledore and Arabella having tea and biscuits. "Oh, hi Albus. Sorry, I didn't realise that you were here."  
  
"Hello Lily. Did you want something?" Arabella moved across to the fire, shifting a cat along the way.  
  
"I just called on the off chance that you could take Harry for the evening, but it's not a problem."  
  
"Sorry, Albus and I are having a quiet evening tonight. We're going to Hogsmeade tomorrow."  
  
"Well never mind. Like I said - it's not important." In her own living room, Lily shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"I can take him tomorrow morning if you want. Our train leaves at 12.30."  
  
"No, no. That's OK. James and I just wanted an evening to ourselves. OK, I'll see on Monday, as usual, then?" Lily asked.  
  
"Yes, sure. See you on Monday."  
  
"Bye, Lily." Dumbledore spoke for the first time.  
  
"Bye you lot." She grinned and pulled her head back into her own cottage.  
  
James was waiting in the living room, holding Harry. "No go?" Lily shook her head. "And Remus and Peter have gone on their holidays."  
  
"Well, we'll have to enjoy ourselves with our loveable son then!" James grinned and hoisted Harry into the air. The baby giggled, and kicked his legs about. Lily sank down into the sofa and grabbed a bottle of Butterbeer from the table. She patted the seat beside her and said "Room for a little one!"  
  
James put Harry down on Lily's lap, and sat down himself, but only after helping himself to a Firewhisky.  
  
"I saw Severus at the Order the other day. He seemed to be getting chummy with Alice." James glanced at his wife. She made no reaction, so he carried on. "She fended him off herself, but I still only trust him as far as I can throw him."  
  
"Why do you always have to get involved, James? I've lived with you for 3 years now, and I don't think that you have managed to pass a month without mentioning him at least once!" Lily sighed and, picking up a pen and paper, she started to write a few more chapters of Living With The Werewolf. Her manuscript was becoming thicker each day, and it was soon to be finished for publishing.  
  
A knock sounded at the door, and James frowned. He shifted a curtain slightly at the bay window. He saw Peter outside, and turned to Lily.  
  
"Why is Wormtail using the front door? He knows he can just apparate here, surely?"  
  
"I thought that he was on holiday or something... Does he have anyone with him?" Lily's face seemed disturbed by the idea.  
  
"Not that I can see... I'll open it." He got up, tickling the gurgling Harry on the way.  
  
Lily heard the click as the latch was opened, and the murmuring of voices. Suddenly there was shouting, and James yelled "Run Lily, RUN!" 


	2. Chapter 2

Setting Suns  
  
"Sirius?" Remus fell through onto the cold marble of Sirius' hearth.  
  
Sirius' head poked round the corner and called out to his old friend. "Are you OK? Aren't you in Madrid?"  
  
The mound of black hair disappeared for a moment, and then the whole body emerged, the hands wiping each other with a red chequered tea towel. Sirius dumped the tea towel on a chair in his kitchen. He had always been rather proud of the marble in the fireplace. And it seemed to go with everything he had put in the room. The shiny stone matched the pine chairs and table, and wooden floor. Some blue and black cushions dropped lightly into corners made the kitchen seem that much brighter and bigger.  
  
"I'm actually worried about Lily. I asked her to send me some potion or other. You've obviously realised that it's the full moon tonight." Remus was cracking his long fingers, his dark brown hair drifting over his face.  
  
"Would I sound patronising if I asked; have you tried Apparating recently?! " Sirius seemed mildly amused by his friend's dilemma, who had always had trouble focusing on people to Apparate to.  
  
"Do I look stupid?! I've tried everything I can think of - Apparition, Floo, even James' mirror, although I have no doubt that that is sitting at the bottom of some lake somewhere. I think Peter argued once too much with him.." Remus mused. James was renowned for his fiery temper, and it often resulted in rash actions. "But that was ten minutes ago. So as a last resort, I turn to you." Remus shrugged his shoulders, and looked sideways at Sirius.  
  
"I suppose you tried Apparating to the house, rather than Lily?" Sirius was beginning to feel a bit uneasy now.  
  
"Yes! I can't get there!" Remus was almost frantic with worry. "And I'm not sure I want to see what is there."  
  
"Well, in that case, we'll just have to walk up from the village." Sirius picked up the tea towel again and put it in a drawer. He then quickly stepped out of the room, and came back in a moment, pulling on a large navy blue travelling cloak. On his head was now perched a matching navy blue hat.  
  
"We?" Remus seemed slightly bewildered.  
  
Sirius glanced up from doing up some buttons on the collar of his cloak. "Do you have a problem with that?"  
  
"No. But aren't you on duty tonight? Maybe you should send an owl to the Order." Remus shrugged his shoulders again.  
  
"Oh yeah. Be back in a second." And with that, Sirius walked out of the room again.  
  
It was actually about a minute before Sirius returned, and when he did, he walked over to Remus and clung to an elbow. "What about the well at the bottom of the hill?"  
  
"Sounds OK to me." He paused then gave a single nod to Sirius. The air seemed to move around them as a loud 'pop' issued from where Remus and Sirius had just been standing.  
  
***  
  
A quiet 'pop' came from just beside the well in Godric's Hollow. They are always quieter at destinations. After all, it is just a small part of the sound that you get at the departure point. To human ears, they difference between the first 'pop' and the second one is too small to notice, but for creatures that live very slowly in comparison, like Centaurs, it can be weeks, even months, before the creature turns up. That is why a wizard should never to attempt to Apparate as an animagus or with an animal of some sort. It's very risky, and may result in the death of the Apparator. It stays risky even when an animagus is in the human form, which is why werewolves and animagi don't like to Apparate very much, and generally prefer Floo.  
  
On this particular evening, both a werewolf and an animagus had Apparated, together. The risk therefore incredibly great, but somehow, they seemed to have survived unscathed. The werewolf was the first to turn round and face the road leading up the hill to Lily and James' house. His jaw dropped, and although his arms and face were sprouting fur already, nobody who had been watching could have mistaken the look of terror and anxiety on his face.  
  
Sirius saw his friend turn round and stiffen. He didn't want to see what had caused Remus to change early. It was usually only absolute fear that did that. But he should have thought of this. Both Lily and Harry could do nothing to defend themselves from Remus, apart from hope that James and Sirius took him into the woods behind the house. Although Remus wouldn't go for a human, he had just had the urge to move up to the Potter house, and Sirius couldn't be sure what he was going to do. So Sirius himself had to change quickly into a black dog.  
  
The werewolf let out squeals as the dog jumped onto it, pinning it down. Moony's deep brown eyes seemed filled with pain and worry, so Padfoot quickly jumped off. They both trotted quickly towards the woods, but Padfoot glanced back. He saw what had made Remus, Moony. Against the dark sky, was a shimmering Dark Mark. He stopped but Moony pulled him by the tail, knowing that they couldn't go up to the house until he was Remus again.  
  
Both canines ran into the woods and began to make their way up towards the home of their friends. They slowed, and soon could see the plot of land that belonged to the Potters. In the middle of it, was the house. It was lit up by the moonlight, but made decidedly less eerie by the clucking of chickens from a hen house surrounded by wire fence.  
  
There were no lights on in the house, and only a soft cooing from a sleeping baby drifted out of one of the open windows. Neither Moony nor Padfoot could do anything about it, so both had to sleep uncomfortably on the mossy floor of the undergrowth. 


End file.
